How to make windows 8 index encrypted files

If you have files that are encrypted with the Encrypting File System, you will probably have noticed that they don’t get indexed by Windows, and therefore don’t show up in search results. Here’s how to fix that.

Make Windows 8 Index Encrypted Files

Right click in the bottom left hand corner of your screen and select System from the context menu.

When the System Window opens, in the bottom left hand corner you will see a Performance Information and Tools link, click on it.

This will take you to the performance section of the Control Panel, click on the Adjust indexing options link.

When the Indexing Settings open, go ahead and click on the Advanced button.

Here you will need to check the Index encrypted files checkbox.

You will get a warning telling you that since you will be indexing encrypted files, the volume on which your search index resides should have some kind of full volume encryption as well, this is a security measure and isn’t required but is recommended. So when you ready go ahead and click on the continue button.

Then you can click on OK, that’s all there is to it.

Windows 8 contains a built-in file encryption feature, called BitLocker, but only in the Pro or Enterprise versions. In addition, if your system does not have a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), you must use an external USB flash drive with BitLocker for it to work.

If you are concerned about other users of your system having access to your files, there has been a simple way to encrypt files and folders in every version of Windows since XP called Encrypted File Service (EFS). We will show you how to apply EFS to your files and folders.

NOTE: Files and folders you encrypt using EFS can only be decrypted using the Windows login that encrypted the file. Other users on the system will be able to see the files but will not be able to open them, even if they are running as administrator. That means that you also need to be careful you do not forget your login, or you will be locked out of your own files.

To encrypt a folder or a file, open File Explorer by clicking the File Explorer icon on the Taskbar if you are on the Desktop.

If you are on the Start screen, start typing “explorer” (without the quotes). The Search box displays and starts to list matches as you type. Click File Explorer in the list of results.

Select a file or folder to encrypt. For this example, we will use a folder. Right-click on the folder and select Properties from the popup menu.

On the General tab on the Properties dialog box, click the Advanced in the Attributes section.

On the Advanced Attributes dialog box, select the Encrypt contents to secure data check box and click OK.

Click OK on the Properties dialog box to close it.

The Confirm Attribute Changes dialog box displays. If you’re encrypting a folder, you are asked if you want to encrypt only the folder or the folder and all subfolders and files. Select the desired option and click OK. The Properties dialog box also closes.

The folder, or file, you encrypted displays in green text now. If you encrypted a folder and all its subfolders and files, any folders and files inside the main folder are also encrypted and displayed in green. Any files or folders you create in the main folder in the future are also encrypted.

You will also see a popup in the Notification Area on the Taskbar recommending that you backup your encryption key in case the original one is lost or corrupted. Click this popup to backup the key.

NOTE: If the popup message above disappeared before you could click it, click the Notification Area arrow and click the Encrypting File System icon.

On the Encrypting File System dialog box, click Back up now. If you’re not ready to back up the encryption certificate and key yet, you can select Back up later to be reminded the next time you log in. It is not recommended to Never back up the key.

Click Next on the first screen of the Certificate Export Wizard.

Accept the default selection for the file format for the exported encryption certificate and key and click Next.

Select the Password check box and enter a strong password in the Password edit box and again in the Confirm password edit box. Click Next.

On the File to Export screen, click Browse.

Navigate to the location where you want to save the encryption certificate and key file. You can save it on the hard drive initially, but be sure to move it to an external drive, such as a USB flash drive. Click Save.

The path to your file is entered in the File name edit box. Click Next.

A summary of your chosen settings displays on the final screen. Click Finish.

A dialog box displays saying the export was successful. Click OK to close it.

You can undo the encryption on encrypted files or folders by selecting Properties for the files or folders and turning off the Encrypt contents to secure data option described in this article.

Much better and more configurable than Vista or XP

The built-in search feature in Windows 7/8/10 is significantly better than the horrible search options in Windows Vista and XP. Instead of installing a third-party program to search for files on inside files on your computer, you can now do it with easily from Windows 7/8/10.

For example, let’s say you’re a programmer or web developer and you want to be able to search your code files like .aspx, .html, .java, .php, etc. With Windows 7, you can configure the search indexer to not only index any file you want, but also to index the file contents.

By default, the Search Indexer in Windows 7/8/10 indexes the most common locations where your files would be stored, i.e. all libraries, everything in your User folder, and e-mail. If this is not enough, you can add or remove index locations easily.

However, to be clear, there are some really good third-party programs that will let you do faster and more advanced searches of text files than Windows ever could.

Configure Indexing Options in Windows

That means you can tell Windows 7/8/10 to index and return results from files and folder on network drives or external hard drives. To get started , click on Start, then type in search into the search box.

This will bring up the Indexing Options dialog. In Windows 10, you’ll click on Change how Windows searches. At the top, you’ll see the total number of items that have currently been indexed on your computer. Below that, you will see a list of all the locations that have been included for indexing.

To add a new location to the index, click on the Modify button. Any network drive or external hard drive will show up in the list of possible locations. You can check off any drive or folder that you would like to include in the index.

Depending on how many files and folders are in a location, it could take some time for search indexer to index everything. If you have noticed that certain files are not being indexed by search indexer even though they are included in the search locations, you may have to add the file type.

You can do this by clicking on the Advanced button on the main Indexing Options screen. Then click on the File Types tab.

If the file extension is not in the list, go ahead and add it at the bottom. Then select it and choose whether you want to index just the properties or the properties and the file contents. If you know the file contains only text, make sure to select the second radio button.

You can also click on Index Settings to modify some of the settings for the Search Indexer.

Here you can choose to index encrypted files and other options like treating similar words with diacritics as different words. If you are having problems with Windows search or something has become corrupted, you can rebuild the index by clicking the Rebuild button.

Lastly, you can completely move the search index to another disk or partition. If you have a faster hard drive that the OS is not running on, it might be a good idea to move it so that it performs faster. Similar to how moving the paging file to another disk will make things run faster.

Overall, the new search features in Windows 7/8/10 are greatly enhanced and let you customize most of the search options. Enjoy!

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications. Read Aseem’s Full Bio

Why would you want to encrypt the directory where Windows 8 keeps its big honkin’ Windows.edb file and index files? That directory is where the very handy “Windows Search” function keeps it stuff. And searching around for a bit on Google, I noticed there’s little information about whether Windows properly obfuscates all the data inside those files, with nothing definitive out there convincing me that all the issues discussed in this 2009 Thesis have been addressed. But if you have Windows 8 Pro or Windows 8 Enterprise, that also means you have the EFS (Encrypted File System) capability, built-in. So why not use it? Especially if:

• you’re considering using the Windows Search Index encrypted files option.
• you’re considering using 3rd party Windows Search add-ons that could also add sensitive data to those indices.
• you don’t have whole drive encryption, such as Bitlocker or TrueCrypt turned on, perhaps because of possible SSD/Trim issues with encryption, or a desire to allow data de-dupe in backups, etc.
• you’ve read through this Microsoft TechNet article, and are still convinced you wish to proceed.
  This is an intermediate skill-level exercise, intended for home-lab environments. This is not something you should consider on a corporate issued system, which may already have whole disk encryption and power on passwords set.

Setting up EFS for Indices requires admin rights to your Windows 8 operating system. This tip by John Savill at Windows IT Pro was the key to getting this all working.

I’m not claiming that this encryption is absolutely necessary, or that EFS is better than BitLocker. It’s not. I wouldn’t even say that this procedure is even advisable for most users. I’m merely saying this quick method of turning EFS on that I developed seems to be working well for those normally tricky/untouchable index files. It doesn’t seem to slow anything down noticeably, on my admittedly fast SSD based systems, or on my test VMs. And there seems to be no evidence of any side effects on Windows itself, with nary a scary error anywhere. No goofy entries littering the Event Log, for example. So that’s why I’m comfortable sharing this procedure.

Note that this is an entirely at-your-own-risk endeavor, with no certainty that Microsoft or I can possibly provide you with any support. Also note that backing up all your data first is entirely your responsibility! Ok, enough already, let’s get started.

Step-by-step guide, with a video walk through at the end.

1) Download PsExec

Download PsExec by Mark Russinovich, from SystInternals, extract it to C:\Tools

2) Use PsExec to Run as the Local System Context in Windows 8

a) press ‘Win+X’ then select ‘Command Prompt (Admin)’

b) type (or paste in) the following command (that launches a second window logged in as a system account)

C:\Tools\psexec -sid cmd.exe

c) close the opened in step a, leaving just the window opened in step b

d) single-click upper-left corner of the window, choose ‘Properties’

single-click upper-left corner of ‘cmd.exe’ window, choose ‘Properties’

e) change ‘Screen Buffer Size’ to Height 999, click ‘OK’ button

change ‘Screen Buffer Size’ to Height 999, click ‘OK’ button

3) Temporarily stop the “Windows Search” service

At the command line opened in Step 2 above, type the following command

net stop WSearch

In a few seconds, Windows may restart this service on it’s own. So please proceed to Step 4 promptly.

4) Use Windows 8’s built-in EFS (Encrypted File System) functionality to encrypt the folder that contains the indexing files

CIPHER /E /S:Windows

Scroll back through the small command window, to be sure there were no ‘file in use’ errors encountered. If there were, just repeat steps 3 and 4 again until you see no errors. Using the up arrow keys to go back in your command history will make this easier.

scroll back up to verify no files were skipped

5) Start the Windows Start Service

net start WSearch

and hit enter, wait a few seconds, it should complete without any errors.

net start WSearch

6) Overwrite all empty space on this volume

if you’re extremely patient and wish to be very thorough with ensuring all deleted temp files that could possibly contain only partially obfuscated text are really overwritten, you may wish to run the CIPHER cleanup command

7) Verify it’s all working (optional)

On Windows 8, press Win+R, paste in the following line then hit ‘Enter’

and you should see a green folder entitled ‘Windows’, indicating it’s been EFS encrypted. Double-click that folder, and you’ll see the files within are also green. And you’ll be able to see the size of that Windows.edb index file. You can also press Win+W and type Index then hit enter, to see the status of your Windows Search.

Read more about EFS at where the article kindly warns you to export that CERT file, should you wish to be able to recover any data inside any encrypted files or folders you work with. The article also demonstrates how easy it is to use EFS right from Windows Explorer, perhaps for your “My Documents” folder.

That’s all, your Windows Indexing should continue to work as it always did. But now you’ll have just a little more peace of mind, even if you haven’t gotten around to encrypting your entire disk quite yet.

This is a TinkerTry exclusive article. As of June 11 2013, you won’t find this technique anyplace else. I make no claims to be a Windows security expert, constructive feedback is always welcome!

Video walk through:

Additional Sources:

“Finders Keepers” A Forensic Examination of Windows Desktop Search (Version 3) – James McCulloch Gordon, Feb 2009

Indexing and Search: Frequently asked questions, Applies to Windows 8, Windows RT

Make Windows Search a Million Times More Useful with These Simple Tweaks, Whitson Gordon, Feb 23 2012

TinkerTry – Sensible Information Technology at home. My opinions here, not my employer’s.

If you’ve ever tried Windows start search or the search bar in the File Explorer, then you will probably know that the Windows uses indexation to index all your files and folders in order to display then in the search results. But the thing with the Windows indexation is that it won’t index encrypted files or folders by default. This will be a problem if you have encrypted files or folders that you want to appear in the search results.

This might create problems especially for those who constantly work on a lot of files, and few of them are encrypted for some security reasons. But, while having a search for the files, even the encrypted files should appear. In such situations, there is a way better method than decrypting those encrypted files which might expose the files to the restricted persons. Just guide Windows to index those encrypted files as well. So, at the same time, your files will stay encrypted, and they will be visible in the search results inside Windows.

So, if you ever want, here is how you can change Windows configurations to index encrypted files in your Windows system.

Enable Indexing of Encrypted Files

You can easily enable the indexing of encrypted files and folders by simply changing the Windows Index settings. To do that, press “Win + X” and select the option “Control Panel” from the list of Power User options.

Once the Control Panel has been opened, find and click on the link “Indexing Options” to open the Windows Index options.

After opening the Indexing Options window, click on the “Advanced” button appearing at the bottom of the window.

Here in the Advanced Options window, select the checkbox “Index Encrypted Files.”

The above action may show you a warning window, simply click on the button “Yes” to continue. Now click on the “Ok” button in the main window to save the changes.

That’s all there is to do.

Enable Indexing of Encrypted Files using Group Policy Editor

You can also enable Indexing of encrypted files using the Group Policy Editor. To do that, press “Win + R,” type “gpedit.msc” and press the enter button to open the Windows Group Policy Editor.

After opening the Windows Group Policy Editor, navigate to the following settings in the left pane of the window.

Now, find and double-click the setting “Allow indexing of encrypted files” in the right pane.

The above action will open the relevant options panel. Here, select the radio button “Enabled” and click on the “Ok” button to save the changes.

That’s all there is to do and it is that simple to configure Windows to index encrypted files and folders.

Hopefully, that helps and do comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences about using the above methods to configure Windows to index encrypted files and folders.

Encrypted files and emails are used as an extra security measure, most likely when you are using a computer for work or any kind of business communication. The issue you may run into with encrypted files down the line is actually finding those files using desktop search or Outlook search. Usually the encryption will make the files or emails completely unsearchable. Continue reading to discover more about encryption, and if and how you are able to index encrypted files.

Looking for something that’s proving hard to find? We’ve got you covered.

Before you go ahead and add encrypted files to your index, be aware that this is specifically for Windows and not Outlook. You will need to have Windows BitLocker, Drive Encryption, or some other third party encryption program enabled on your computer. Note that it is going to take some time to rebuild the index now that encrypted items need to be added, and it may be better not to use search while it is rebuilding. Here is what you will need to do to add encrypted files to your index:

• Go to Indexing Options, found in the Control Panel.
• Click where it says Advanced.
• In the Advanced Options window, click the tab that says Index Settings.
• When you are in Index Settings make sure to check off the box that says Index Encrypted Files.

• A warning will pop up saying “Cannot verify data security”. If you are sure you have full volume encryption used for the location of the index, click Continue.
• Click OK.

This will work the same for Windows 7,8, or 10, but please note that if you use a third party program to encrypt the system’s drive, they will not be supported. Windows will only support files that are encrypted using EFS (Encrypting File System). You should also encrypt the location of your index, so that if someone were to access your computer they couldn’t take any data from the index.

Clear Signed Emails

Clear-signed emails are a way to encrypt email messages for security purposes. Clear Signed email messages cannot be found using Outlook Search. The way the body of a clear-signed email is packaged through Outlook makes the text unsearchable. It does not matter if you use Advanced searching, or instant search in Outlook—Clear signed messages cannot be found. Signing and encryption technology can seem really confusing; see Understanding Public Key Cryptography for more information on the subject.

While some encrypted files may be indexed by Windows Search, Encrypted emails are another ball game, and will be hard to find through Instant Search, or Outlook Search.

A Workaround for Encrypted Emails

If you desperately need to search for encrypted emails and their contents, the best workaround for this is to create a search folder that only holds encrypted mail. This way, you’ll still have to search for the email manually, but you can do so without having to search through all of the mail in your inbox. You can do this by creating a search folder with advanced filters:

• Right click on Search Folders at the bottom of your Mail navigation pane
• Click New Search Folder
• Double click on Create a custom Search Folder at the bottom of the list
• In the window that pops up, click Criteria…
• In the Advanced tab, under Define more criteria: click Field >All Messagefields >Message Class

• Under Condition: select is (exactly)
• Under Value: type ipm.note.smime.
• Click Add to List. It should look like this:

• Click OK, name your folder in the Custom Search Folder window then click OK

Setting up your search folder in this way should limit the results in the folder to only encrypted messages, clear signed and other encryption types included. If you only want to find clear signed messages, change the Value to IPM.Note.SMIME.MultipartSigned.

Hopefully using a search folder in this way will help you find those hard-to-find encrypted emails faster.

Date: 17. Feb 2016
Author: Joana Simoes
Tags: Indexing Outlook Search Security Windows Search

Read about EFS in Windows 10, how to enable and use it, and how to back up the EFS encryption key. The Encrypting File System (EFS) was first introduced in Windows 2000 and is still available in all versions of Windows 10, 8 or 7 except for Home version. EFS is similar to encryption by Bitlocker, and it allows encrypting separate files and folders while Bitlocker works with the entire disk. EFS is not a full-fledged file system, but an add-on based on NTFS and allowing to encrypt particular files on the fly.

Encryption keys are connected to a Windows user account, so other users of the same PC won’t be able to access the encrypted data. EFS encryption does not provide comprehensive protection as in case with Bitlocker. First of all, the system stores the encryption keys locally so intruders can get access to them. There is also a chance of secret data being stored in system temporary or auxiliary files which are not encrypted.

Nevertheless, EFS is a quick and easy way to protect separate files and folders on a computer where several users may work. Encryption with EFS will not take long, so let’s have a look how it works.

How to start encrypting data

EFS is not available for Home versions of Windows 10, 8 or 7, so if you have one, that is unfortunate. There is no point in encrypting data if you don’t use a reliable password with your user account – access to encrypted data is granted automatically when the user who has encrypted the data logs into the system.

After the files are encrypted, the system will automatically create a backup key to let you have access to data if you have problems with logging into the system, and you can’t sign in your account. For this purpose, any removable media will do, and a USB drive will be the best choice.

How to enable EFS in Windows 10

Select files or folders to encrypt with EFS and then do the following:

1. Start Windows Explorer in the Start menu, in the desktop or in the taskbar.
2. Right-click on the file or folder and select “Properties” in the menu.
3. In the tab “General” click on Advanced.
4. Check the box next to Encrypt contents to secure data.
5. Click OK, then Apply. You will see a dialogue box asking if you want to encrypt a selected folder only, or this folder and all of the folders and files inside it.
6. Click “Apply changes to this folder only” or “Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files”.
7. Click OK.

The files encrypted with EFS will have a small lock-shaped symbol in the upper right corner of their icons. After encryption, no one is going to have access to such files until they sign in with your account.

How to create a backup copy of the EFS encryption key

After EFS is enabled, a small icon will appear in the taskbar. This is an EFS key backup notice.

Connect a USB drive to the computer.

Click on the EFS icon in the taskbar.

Click Backup now (recommended).

Click “Next”.

Click “Next”.

Check the box next to the password, then enter and confirm the password. Click “Next” to continue.

Click “Browse” and go to the USB drive to save the file.

That’s all. If you lose access to your Windows account, you’ll be able to use the backup key to access encrypted files in your computer. If you delete accidentally the files and folders encrypted with EFS, use our programs to recover encrypted NTFS files.

Author: Vladimir Artiukh, Technical Writer

Vladimir Artiukh is a technical writer for Hetman Software, as well as the voice and face of their English-speaking YouTube channel, Hetman Software: Data Recovery for Windows. He handles tutorials, how-tos, and detailed reviews on how the company’s tools work with all kinds of data storage devices. Read more

The only way to access encrypted data

Are you trying to open some files on your computer that are encrypted? Windows will usually designate encrypted file or folder names with the color green instead of the normal black text.

Note: If you are reading this post looking for information on decrypting files that were encrypted by CryptoLocker, this won’t help. You pretty much have to pay the ransom and hope they actually send you the encryption keys.

When encrypting files and folders, Windows will use a self-generated certificate that contains keys used to encrypt and decrypt the data. When opening encrypted data when logged into the user account that generated the certificate, the decryption process is transparent and the files are opened normally.

However, if another user or system tries to access those same data files or if the files are moved to another location, then they cannot be opened unless the original certificate is installed.

In either case, one thing you have to remember about encrypting and decrypting files in Windows is that you always need the encryption certificates/keys. When you encrypt a file or folder in Windows, encryption keys are automatically created and associated with your user account.

In Windows 7 and higher, you’ll actually get a prompt asking you to backup your encryption key (EFS certificate).

You should definitely do this immediately. If you do not have these encryption keys, you will not be able to decrypt the data. Unfortunately, there is no way around this since the encryption is very strong and cannot be broken easily.

If you can still access the computer where the data was originally encrypted, you can try exporting the certificate and then importing it on a different machine.

Backing Up EFS Certificates

There are a couple of ways to backup file encryption certificates and I’ll mention them below. The first way is to click on Start and type in certificate.

Click on Manage user certificates and this will open up the certificates for the current user. In Windows 7, you can also type in certmgr.msc and press Enter to open the certificate manger.

Now expand Personal and then click on Certificates. You should see all the certificates listed in the right pane. There might only be one, but if not, the only certificates you are interested in are the ones that have Encrypting File System listed under Intended Purposes.

Right-click on the certificate, choose All Tasks and then click on Export.

This will open the Certificate Export Wizard, which is the same place you will reach if you click on Back up now (recommended) when prompted by Windows.

On the next screen, you will want to select Yes, export the private key along with the certificate. If you don’t have the private key, you won’t be able to decrypt any of the encrypted files.

On the next screen, you have to choose the format you want to use to export the certificate. Personal Information Exchange should already be selected and you can leave it with just the first box checked.

Since this certificate contains a private key, you are required to protect it using a password. Check the Password box and type in a strong password.

Finally, click Browse and choose a location where you want to save the file. It is highly recommended you do not save the file onto the computer itself. If something happens to the PC, then you lose the key along with it.

Also, give your file a name that is helpful for you, but not super obvious to others what it is. For example, don’t name it EFS key like I did below!

Click next and then click Finish. Your private encryption key is now saved as a file. You can now take this file and import it on any other Windows machine. Importing is really easy. All you have to do is double-click on the file and it will open up the Certificate Import Wizard.

Once you import the certificate, you will be able to decrypt any files that were encrypted with that certificate. As previously mentioned, if you are trying to open encrypted files and you don’t have or can’t find the certificate anymore, then those files are basically gone.

Some programs state they can decrypt your files for a hefty price, but they have never worked for me and that’s why I haven’t listed any of them here. If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment. Enjoy!

Founder of Online Tech Tips and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications. Read Aseem’s Full Bio

If recent security and privacy concerns about Dropbox make you think twice about using the popular file storage and syncing tool, there’s an easy way to further protect your sensitive files stored on Dropbox: yes, we’re talking about encryption.

Dropbox Accidentally Unlocked All Accounts for 4 Hours

Dropbox accidentally dropped the need for password authentication this past Sunday so anyone could…

TrueCrypt is our go-to data encryption tool and no doubt you know we have a thing for Dropbox , but although we’ve briefly mentioned using TrueCrypt as one of the clever ways to use Dropbox , we’ve never fully married the two. It’s about time.

Geek to Live: Encrypt your data

by Gina Trapani

What’s All the Fuss?

Dropbox has had a few privacy and security stumbles in recent months. Most recently, an authentication bug allowed anyone to log into your account with any password over a four hour period. Back in April, Business Insider reported an update to Dropbox’s security terms of service reveals the company can decrypt your files and provide them to the government if required to do so—in other words, if you thought Dropbox couldn’t decrypt your data, you were wrong. (Dropbox responds here .) This may all just be par for the course with cloud-based services (we believe you should consider all your passwords vulnerable to cracking if someone wanted to do so badly enough), but at least a few people feel uneasy about Dropbox’s recent problems.

Should You Drop Dropbox?

Dropbox is still a killer collaborative work tool and it does more than just file syncing . If you don’t store confidential or sensitive information on the service, there’s no need to worry anyway.

How to Use Dropbox as a Killer Collaborative Work Tool

If you work with a group of people, you’ve most likely needed to share or collaborate on files from

If you do store sensitive data on Dropbox but are loathe to give up its convenience, there are a couple of things you can do to further secure your data while still using Dropbox:

How to Encrypt Your Sensitive Data on Dropbox

A Cross-Platform Method: Use an Encrypted Zip File

Encrypt and zip your files before placing them on Dropbox for added security and convenient accessibility.

Another Easy Option: Automatically Encrypt Data with SecretSync

Previously mentioned Windows program SecretSync provides an easy way to encrypt a local folder before sending it to Dropbox. You install the app, it creates a new folder on your computer, and anything you place in that folder is automatically encrypted and then synced with Dropbox. It’s actually quite clever.

SecretSync Secures Your Sensitive Files Before Syncing Them to Dropbox (and We’ve Got Beta Invit.

Windows: We’ve shown you how to add a second layer of encryption to Dropbox, but if you’re looking…

If the idea of securing your cloud data by putting your trust in yet another cloud service is too much, you could instead encrypt your data yourself with the cross-platform, open-source encryption application TrueCrypt . Essentially you’d manually encrypt your files, then store your encrypted files on Dropbox. It won’t be as easy to share or work with individual documents encrypted with TrueCrypt as non-TrueCrypt-encrypted files, but even Dropbox itself recommends using TrueCrypt for your most sensitive documents.

So, here’s how create an encrypted TrueCrypt container on Dropbox:

The “Take Security Into Your Hands” Option: Manually Encrypt Specific Files with TrueCrypt

In this scenario, you’ll basically just store your sensitive data in your TrueCrypt container, which is saved to your Dropbox folder. Our steps for encrypting your data with TrueCrypt in this case remain the same. Just select the Dropbox folder as the TrueCrypt container location.

If you’ve never used TrueCrypt before, here are the steps, taken from our previous guide but adjusted specifically for Dropbox usage:
1. Download, install, and launch TrueCrypt
2. After hitting the “Create Volume” button, choose the default to “create an encrypted file container” and a “Standard TrueCrypt Volume”.
3. Here’s where the steps differ: When prompted to select a location for your TrueCrypt Volume, navigate to your Dropbox folder.
4. Then you’ll run through the rest of the TrueCrypt encryption steps, including selecting the default AES encryption scheme and volume size (choose a capacity less, obviously, than your total Dropbox account storage space).

Once you’ve entered your volume password and formatted the TrueCrypt volume, it’ll be saved and ready for action in your Dropbox folder.

To mount the volume as a virtual—but encrypted—drive that you can copy and paste to, from the TrueCrypt program, select a drive letter, then select your TrueCrypt file in the Dropbox folder, and click “Mount.”

You’ll be able to copy and paste sensitive documents to that encrypted container just like you would a regular drive, as long as the volume is mounted.

For Protecting Locally-Accessible Files: Move Your Dropbox Folder to an Encrypted TrueCrypt Volume

The above works well when you have a mix of plain old documents and more sensitive files that you want to store together on Dropbox—you can use a TrueCrypt container for your most sensitive files and the regular service for everything else (for easy collaboration and remote editing). Encrypting your files before storing them on Dropbox is also your main recourse when it comes to privacy and security concerns about the service having access to your data.

If you want encrypt everything in your Dropbox folder locally, you can just move the Dropbox folder into a TrueCrypt container. As readers pointed out, this won’t address the privacy concerns of Dropbox being able to decrypt your information, but it would secure the contents of your Dropbox in case, say, you lost your laptop or your computer was compromised. Here are the instructions from Dropbox of this process:

• As above, download, install, and launch TrueCrypt
• Create a new standard TrueCrypt volume (Create volume > Create an encrypted file container > Standard TrueCrypt volume, using NFTS filesystem) anywhere on your hard drive, and set a volume size and password for accessing the volume later.

Once it’s formatted, make sure the TrueCrypt volume will be mounted on logon:

• In TrueCrypt, click on the Select File button, select the container you just created, click on an unused drive letter and then click the Mount button.
• From the Favorites menu, select Add Mounted Volume to Favorites and make sure Mount select volume upon login is checked.

Next, we’ll move Dropbox to the encrypted TrueCrypt drive:

• Right-click on the Dropbox icon in the system tray and go to Preferences.
• In the Advanced tab, click the Move button to change the location for Dropbox to the virtual drive letter you just created.

Finally, Dropbox recommends creating a login script to modify Dropbox so it will wait until the drive is ready before starting: